By John Y. Brown III, on Tue Apr 1, 2014 at 12:00 PM ET
Finally!
My long-time trusty alarm clock broke several months ago–and I have relied on my wife, Rebecca, to wake me up every morning using her alarm clock.
Why?
Because for 4 months I have been unable to find an alarm clock for myself that is “idiot proof.”
In other words, that I can figure out how to use–like my old one dimensional alarm clock. It is a Sony from Walgreens and costs $14.99 and I am elated.
Every other alarm clock I have looked at seems to require an advanced degree in engineering to operate. (It’s not the one pictured but is as scaled down and limited to its original uses) When did clocks become easier to make than to use?
I am so relieved. Imagine…having a clock that I can set all by myself.
Most alarm clocks I am passing on, I am sure, have many wonderful new fangled features. Some project the time on the ceiling; some probably connect to NASA and can track satellites. But I just need an alarm to go off around 6am every morning and am willing to give up all the other cool clock “value adds.”
I just need a loud alarm buzzer and something that tells time–and I’m good.
By John Y. Brown III, on Fri Mar 28, 2014 at 12:00 PM ET
You know how when you are in NYC you talk faster and in Southern California you talk slower and in Texas you give in to your full on drawl?
I went to London, England for the first time several years ago and in no time I was speaking with an English accent.
It changes your mindset too.
Which is my main point about having a Lexington accent. I don’t change the way I pronounce things. But once I drive into the Lexington city limits a reflexive change comes over my entire being and I start to think of everthing in terms of the UK Wildcats basketball team.
It’s bigger than an accent and you can tell just by looking at me that I am thinking about how I believe the Cats can still win it all this year.
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Mar 27, 2014 at 12:00 PM ET
I did excellent work the past hour and fifteen minutes “working” one of the emergency exit doors on my flight from Clevelend to Charlotte, if I may say so myself.
My exit door, I am pleased to report, was “without incident.” And this is the third time this year I have taken on the responsibility of manning the emergency exit door in the event of an accident or emergency landing.
And it is not a role for the faint of heart.
Why do I compliment myself? Because frankly I have found it to be a thankless job. Not once has a member of the flight crew thanked me for my able, focused and fastidious work in this flight leadership role. Not even an “atta boy” wink or appreciative thumbs up gesture.
Should I need the affirmation to take on this kind of role? Probably not. And as long as I can give myself the occasional Facebook shout out for my aviation safety, that ought to be enough.
And even though you probably weren’t on any of the three flights with me when I was in this important role, just know that if you had been, you would have landed safely and soundly. Thanks to the work of the crew and their volunteer staff, including me.
And although this isn’t a nice thing to say, the person opposite me working the other emergency exit, in my opinion, didn’t have her heart in it and hadn’t really read the flight rules and protocols and lied to the flight attendent when she pretended she had. At times I felt like I was doing her job as well as mine! As far as her side of the plane went, let’s just say we got lucky tonight.
By John Y. Brown III, on Tue Mar 25, 2014 at 12:00 PM ET
Third party politics and the sexes
Every few years public disgust with the two major political parties bubbles over to the point there is talk of a need to develop a third party.
As soon as the possibility of such a new entity starts to seem real both major parties tend to start behaving more responsibly and cooperatively.
The threat of a third party, in other words, seems to serve as a corrective on the behavior on the two major parties.
Which made me wonder if the same dynamic would occur between men and women –and they would get along better–if every few years there was talk of the threat of creating of a third sex.
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Love grades
I can tell how I am doing with my wife by the way she ends her texts to me. When I am doing well Rebecca ends each text with a complete “Love.” When I am doing well but could use improvement I get the abbreviated “L.” When I am on the bubble I get a lower case “l.” And when I am really struggling and moved into negative territory I simply get her first initial “R.”
R’s are bad and can sometimes–if not remedied immediately–devolve into no close at all. That is very, very bad. A failing grade.
Today I am getting capital L’s
But trying to move up by this afternoon to a full-fledged “Love.”
By John Y. Brown III, on Mon Mar 24, 2014 at 12:00 PM ET
I am soooo smart sometimes….
Why do I say this?
Mostly because I am always looking for clever and cost-saving short cuts in life.
And it is fun when I come up with one.
For example, last month I decided the 5 sportscoats and suit jackets I wear most frequently all had arms thst came down to long on my shirt sleeve and I was going to do something about it. The typical person would go to a tailor or to the store they bought the jackets.
But not me. That is too expensive and time consuming for a guy like me–who can comes up with ingenious short cuts I simply tried each jacket on and estimated in my mind how much needed to be taken out of each arm. Took me all of 3 minutes.
Then I dropped them off at the cleaners with my instructions.
And Voila!! Just look at that sleeve now!! It’s not too long anymore, is it?
Ok, maybe a little too short….I know. Ahem. So this week I am taking the 5 jackets and suit jackets to a tailor to have them taken back out to the appropriate length.
Ok. So, maybe I’m not sooo smart after all. But it was fun thinking for a day or two that I really was.
By John Y. Brown III, on Fri Mar 21, 2014 at 12:00 PM ET
I’m not talking about highest IQ-smart, most knowledge, the most deeply insightful or profoundly creative.
I am talking about useful, practical, everyday smarts that arguably is the most important kind of smart we can seek to be.
Those people. Those are the ones I am talking about.
And their intelligence is hard to define, pigeonhole or quantify.
In many cases they aren’t even described by friends as “smart” and may not think of themselves as overly bright or well educated.
It is more than street smarts, too. Although that is a big part of it.
They are the people you go to when you have an important life or work or personal problem to solve and you need help.
Maybe the best test for these kind of people is this. You know when you hear someone say–even yourself— “Well, when you think about it that way, it does make sense?” I know I say that a lot.
My theory is that the kind of smart people I am trying to describe are the ones who we never hear say that. Because they are always thinking in “that way” –the seemingly odd and unconventional way about a problem that may make little logical sense but just seems to work.
Those are the smartest people I know.
And the advice I have received from them has meant everything to me. And they probably don’t even know it because I rarely tell them how smart their suggestion is. I usually just say, “Well, when you think about it that way it does make sense.”
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Mar 20, 2014 at 12:00 PM ET
Time to mix it up
Last night went to Disney with family for couple hours and rode Pirates of the Caribbean –again.
And, again, for the 47th consecutive year the three jailed pirates were unsuccessful at coaxing the keys from the dog a few feet away.
Just once I would like to see an empty jail cell with the door swung open and the dog chewing on the bone that tempted him, finally, to part with the keys.
By John Y. Brown III, on Wed Mar 19, 2014 at 12:00 PM ET
A good friend with an exciting opportunity for a career change recently messaged me about the fear of making such a big change.
I shared a Zen parable I heard years ago that I think exemplifies shrewdly the fear of “letting go” of something we know for something new and scary.
I can’t recall the specifics of the story but this is my very paraphrased version.
“A monk was being chased by a lion and to save himself had to jump of a cliff in the dark of night where he grabbed a thin limb growing on the side of the cliff. The monk, dangling for his life in the pitch black dark, waited for the sun to come up before his strength gave way and, he feared, falling to his death.
But the sunrise didnt come soon enough and the monk’s arms, exhausted and numb, gave way slipping off the branch.
And the monk fell 6 inches to the ground below.
About that is often about as far we have to fall when making a compelling life change.
Something to think about…when you feel like letting go.
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Thought for the day
Each day try to learn one thing that will enhance your life
And….more importantly
Try to unlearn one old thing that is diminishing your life
Most alarm clocks I am passing on, I am sure, have many wonderful new fangled features. Some project the time on the ceiling; some probably connect to NASA and can track satellites. But I just need an alarm to go off around 6am every morning and am willing to give up all the other cool clock “value adds.”
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